Iraqi deadline to Turkey – 24 hours to withdraw troops

Few days after Turkish soldiers entered Iraq and stationed near Mosul in order to provide training to local militia fighting ISIS, Iraqi government want their withdraw. According to the Iraqi Prime Minister, Turkey must withdraw its troops from Iraq within 24 hours to avoid the matter being reviewed by the UN Security Council.

The situation escalated on Friday, when up to 150 Turkish military personnel have been deployed in northern Iraq’s Nineveh province. The reports said they are allegedly sent there to provide training to Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.

Offical Baghdad government said on Sunday that they will use all available options in their efforts to maintain their sovereignty, including an address to the UN Security Council if Turkey failed to withdraw its troops from northern Iraq within 48 hours.

“We demand from Turkey that it respect Iraq’s sovereignty, we gave them 48 hours to resolve the issue and now there are only 24 hours,” Abadi said, as quoted by his press office.

It will be interesting what consequences this situation could trigger because there is also the possibility that Iraq could call Russia in, to help keep their sovereignty. But its hard to believe its going to happen.